The Food: Wood-fired pizzas, handmade pastas and other dishes from Rome and Calabria, a region in Southern Italy. A rustic, Calabrese-style pasta combines thick-cut buckwheat noodles with clams, scallops prawns, mussels and preserved chilis. Unlike most Italian chefs, Rubino cooks his food without butter or oil, and then adds a splash of good olive oil prior to serving.

The Drinks: The wine list includes sustainable and bio-dynamic wines from lesser-known regions of Italy and Ontario.

The Place: Housed in an old bank building, the restaurant is spacious and airy, with black walls, concrete floors and shelves lined with colourful jars of house-made pickles.